Sheffield politicians and businesses join forces to water street trees planted to cheer up shopping area

The trees were planted on Ecclesall Road in Banner Cross as part of a project to improve the look of the area and attract more people to visit the shops. A steering group involving Sheffield City Council, local businesses and the Banner Cross Neighbourhood Group was set up to put forward a project to use money from the government’s Economic Recovery Fund (ERF).

The ERF was a government scheme that helped local shopping areas recover from the effects of the pandemic on trade. In Sheffield the ERF funded 23 projects in total but it is now being wound up.

The steering group successfully applied for funding to improve the street scene in Banner Cross for the area of Ecclesall Road from its junctions with Psalter Lane to Rustlings Road.

Ecclesall ward Coun Barbara Masters said: “At the start of the process now over two years ago, the businesses were advised that trees could not be considered. The appearance of a tree last year planted as a result of a competition only open to a small number of people gave me the leverage to argue for more.

“Following my discussions with the then head of [council highways contractor] Amey, the ERF was offered the eight trees which had to be planted somewhere in the area as a result of four redwoods being felled on Dunkeld Road.

Locations

“At my strong insistence the whole section from Psalter Lane to Rustlings Road was surveyed to identify all the possible locations where trees could be planted. We ended up with 19 locations in total on both sides of the Ecclesall Road, paid for mainly out of the ERF pot and topped up by some money from ward funds.The trees are now in place.”

Coun Masters said that she and fellow ward councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, who recently entered the House of Lords, we were concerned that the newly-planted trees in Banner Cross would find the warm spell stressful.

She said that Banner Cross sub-postmaster Nasar Raoof helped them, adding: “We were all delighted to learn that Jamal had ‘adopted’ two trees outside his premises, the Golden Cuts, and was watering those daily.

“Hopefully that idea will take off, helping the trees we spent a lot of effort to get for Banner Cross through the Economic Recovery Fund to thrive. We can all do our bit to make our city greener.”

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Coun Masters said that three benches are due to be installed along the route by the end of April.

Mr Raoof, who also helped to lead successful protests against red lines stopping parking on Ecclesall Road, said a year ago that he was worried about the effect of street trees on passing trade.

A council spokesman said at the time that volunteer tree wardens were asked to select suitable locations and species for planting. Seven trees were planted in total.

They said that eight more would be planted if consultation with businesses got a positive response.

In Sheffield, £2.7m of ERF funding has paid for improvements to city shopping areas. These included planting, banners, benches, murals and bins, as well as community events and celebrations.